The Best Friend War
by patrengkee
Summary: Kenya is Shiraishi's best friend, but when Shiraishi's old best friend comes back, will Kenya still be his best friend? 2nd Year!Kenya VS OC! XD
1. The best friend & the 'was' best friend

"_**The Best Friend War**_**"**

_Summary_: Kenya is Shiraishi's best friend, but when Shiraishi's old best friend comes back, will Kenya still be his best friend? Based on an iCarly episode.

* * *

Hey. |D

This is my second fic for Shitenhoji. I'm so happy with it LOL~ after watching the double trouble marathon of iCarly and True Jackson VP yesterday, I felt the need to type this. *retarded* Whenever I think of Shitenhoji, all that comes into my mind are crazy, random stuff like what happens on iCarly and other shows. xD Usually I imagine stuff like this happening with my OCs in it *cough* but now it's just the Shitenhoji people. And an OC. Aha ha.

Disclaimer(oh I hate this)… _The Prince of Tennis_, once again, belongs to Konomi Takeshi. The general idea comes from iCarly and and the first part is from True Jackson VP. I only own the fic and the OC. :D

This story's timeline is when Chitose was just about to join the Shitenhoji tennis club. The third years are still second years in this fic, meaning no Kin-chan and less Zaizen. ): But full of crack though. XD

* * *

One morning, at Shitenhoji middle school, Shiraishi Kuranosuke went in the tennis club room to get himself ready for morning practice. As he walked in, he noticed his two friends Oshitari Kenya and Koishikawa Kenjiro seated on a bench, Kenya on one end and Koishikawa on the other.

"Hey guys," Shiraishi greeted as he walked to another bench to set his things down.

Silence.

"Uh, hey?" Shiraishi walked over to them then noticed that the two were busy texting on their cell phones. "Who are you texting?"

"Oshitari."

"Koishikawa."

Shiraishi raised an eyebrow as the two answered in unison. "You two are sitting right next to each other."

"Huh?" Kenya and Kenjiro looked up from their phones, then at each other.

"Hey, when did you get here?" Kenjiro asked.

"A few minutes ago," Kenya said. "My bad. I should've texted you."

"Yeah."

Shiraishi laughed as the two kept their phones. "By the way, I invited Chitose to the team again. This time he said he'll think about it," he said.

Kenjiro flung his legs to the other side of the bench to face Shiraishi. "Oh, that new guy from class one?" He asked.

"Not only the new guy from class one," Kenya said. "One of Shishigaku's best too."

"Right," Shiraishi said. "He could be handy addition to the team. I hope he agrees to join us."

"Geez, Shiraishi—of course he will."

"Oh yeah and, I've got other news too," Shiraishi added with an excited smile on his face. "My old friend, Hiro, just e-mailed me and said he'll come and visit tomorrow. He's also gonna stay here at Shitenhoji while he visiting for a few weeks!"

Kenya raised an eyebrow. "And so?"

"Who _is _this Hiro anyway?" Kenjiro asked.

Shiraishi sat between Kenya and Kenjiro. "Nagasuki Hirokaze and I have been friends since elementary school. We e-mail each other once in a while. He moved because of his parents' business and now his family's a hotshot in the business world in the country," he said. "He even got a helicopter on his last birthday!"

Kenjiro's eyes widened. "No way!"

"Uh-huh," Shiraishi said. "And he also plays tennis. He said he wants to see us play."

"Great, that way he can get amazed with my speed tennis," Kenya said proudly. "No speed, no life!"

Shiraishi stood up and took his racket. "I'm gonna go outside now. I'll tell coach about Hiro. I'm sure he'll allow Hiro to watch during the next practices, he was my best friend in elementary school after all," he said happily as he went out of the club room.

When Shiraishi was gone, Kenjiro slowly looked over at Kenya and smiled at the Speed Star's sulking face. Of course he's sulking, he always said that he and Shiraishi were _the _best friends.

"So, excited to see his _best friend_, Kenya?" Kenjiro teased, emphasizing the 'best friend' part.

Kenya snorted. "That _was _his best friend," he clarified. "_I'm_ his best friend now."

Kenjiro just shrugged. "Whatever you say, Kenya." He grabbed his racket beside him and followed Shiraishi outside.

Kenya slumped his shoulders and scrunched his nose.


	2. Choppers, Piñatas & crashed candy dreams

It was the next day and Kenya was feeling a little uneasy. He already ate breakfast _twice _that morning yet his nerves won't calm down. As he walked over to his shoe locker, he noticed Shiraishi with a kid he hasn't seen before.

_Oh, right_. Kenya remembered his conversations with Shiraishi yesterday. _That must be the Hiroku… Hirokine… Hiro guy_.

"And that way is to the music room," Shiraishi said to their guest, pointing across the hallway.

Kenya mentally slapped himself. _Happy face Kenya, happy face…_

"Hey Kura!" Kenya greeted them. He and Hiro looked at each other. "Oh, you must be Shiraishi's old friend."

"Ah, Hiro, this is Kenya. Kenya, this is Hiro. I'm showing him around," Shiraishi said happily.

Kenya nodded slowly. "Yeah, I can see that. Nice to meet you. I'm Oshitari Kenya," he held out a hand.

Hiro took Kenya's hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nagasuki Hirokaze," he said.

Kenya smiled. Hiro doesn't seem to be so bad after all.

"He gets to be in our class, Kenya. Isn't that cool?" Shiraishi said.

"Yeah," Kenya said.

"Oh by the way," Hiro started, "Hey Kura, since you don't have practice today, do you want to come with me and have a ride on my chopper?" He asked. "You're gonna love it!"

Shiraishi looked surprised. "On your helicopter?"

Hiro nodded.

"For real?"

Hiro nodded again.

Shiraishi smiled, but then slowly turned to Kenya. "Uh, sorry Hiro, but I'm supposed to go with Kenya to the bookstore today."

"No, no, it's okay," Kenya said. "Hiro's only gonna be here for a while, so you should go."

"Are you sure?"

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you come with us, Kenya-_kun_?" Hiro offered.

Kenya gave the same surprised expression that Shiraishi did. "Huh?"

Hiro nodded.

"For real?"

Hiro nodded again. "Yeah, we should all go together," he said.

"Cool!" Shiraishi and Kenya said together.

Hiro took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Kenya. "Here, give me your number. I'll text you where we'll meet," he said.

Kenya entered his number on Hiro's phone and handed it back. "Here you go."

"Hey, you want to come with me while I show Hiro around?" Shiraishi asked.

"Nah, no thanks, I need to do something," Kenya said.

"Oh, okay. Later then."

Kenya watched the two walk away before walking to the other direction.

_I guess today isn't going to be so bad after all._

* * *

At the Shiraishi household, Shiraishi and Hiro were in the kitchen drinking some juice and eating some cheese risotto. They have just finished their helicopter ride, and two friends had a great time.

"I can't believe we just went up a thousand feet up the sky. On a helicopter!" Shiraishi exclaimed.

Hiro laughed. "Cool, huh?" He asked then pointed his spork to Shiraishi's plate. "Still craving cheese risotto huh? I see you haven't changed much."

Shiraishi laughed too. "You think so? I don't think you've changed much either," he said.

"But your little sister did. The last time I saw Yukari she was just a tiny kid!"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Shiraishi stood up. "I'll go check who that is," he said.

"I'll get it," he heard Yukari from the living room.

Shiraishi sat down again. "That's probably _onee-chan_, she said she'll come home early today."

To their surprise, Kenya came stomping in the kitchen with a _piñata_ in one hand. Kenya stopped about a meter away from the kitchen table and glared at Hiro.

Hiro gave him a surprised look as Shiraishi stared at the piñata in Kenya's hand, then Kenya.

"Where have you been?" Shiraishi asked, getting up again and walked over to Kenya. "Why didn't you show up? Or at least tell us you weren't coming?" He pointed to the piñata Kenya was holding. "I can't believe you ditched us for Mexican candy."

"I _did_ show up and I _did_ text you," Kenya grunted. "You would've seen me if only Hiro didn't give me the wrong address!"

"What do you mean?" Shiraishi asked in surprise, looking at Hiro. Hiro just shrugged.

"Hiro sent me to that tiny _piñata factory_ across town," Kenya held up the piñata. "I called and texted you guys but neither of you responded!"

"Um, Hiro said we had turn off our cell phones while on the helicopter," Shiraishi explained. "So we did. Sorry we didn't get your call."

"Well I just wanna know why you—" Kenya glared at Hiro again, "—sent me to that _hell _of a place!"

"What? I texted you the right address," Hiro protested. "Alright, let me see your phone."

Kenya took his phone from his pocket and threw it to Hiro. Hiro tried to catch it but failed, and Kenya's phone fell into the pitcher of juice near him.

"Oh_ come on_!" Kenya rushed to the pitcher, immediately taking the phone out of the juice with his hand.

"W-woah, sorry," Hiro apologized.

Shiraishi quickly grabbed a rug from a counter and handed it to Kenya. Kenya wiped off the liquid off his phone and flipped it open, but it was too late.

Kenya glared at Hiro for the third time. "Now what, you owe me _candy and _a new phone!"

"Don't worry, I'll get that replaced," Hiro rubbed his head sheepishly.

"You'd better!"

Shiraishi opened his mouth to calm Kenya down, but then what Kenya just said went back to his mind. "Wait, why does he owe you candy?"

Kenya glared at Shiraishi this time. "That factory makes piñatas with no candy. _Candy-less piñatas_," he wailed. "That factory is such a horrible place—they destroy kids' dreams of piñatas filled with candy... no wonder their factory is smaller than my house!" He cracked open the piñata. "It would've been okay if this thing had candy in it."

"Anyway, Kenya, Hiro said he's sorry," Shiraishi said.

"No offense man, but I think your _friend_ here is trying to get rid of me," Kenya said angrily, throwing the piñata aside.

"Kenya!" Shiraishi warned.

"Look, Kenya-_kun_, I can make up for it. I promise," Hiro said apologetically. "At school tomorrow, okay?"

Kenya wanted to yell at him, but stopped when he saw Shiraishi's nervous look on his face. He closed his mouth and looked back at Hiro.

"Fine then," he snapped at Hiro before walking out. "See you tomorrow Shiraishi."

Shiraishi stood there frozen for a few seconds before turning to Hiro.

Hiro looked at down at his feet, and then back at his best friend. "Hey. You mad at me too?"

Shiraishi shook his head sadly. "No, of course not."

"Sorry about Kenya-_kun_."

"Don't worry. Everything will be okay tomorrow. He doesn't hold grudges."

Hiro nodded slowly. "I guess I should go too," he said. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You need help cleaning up?"

"No thanks. I can do it myself. See 'ya."

Hiro then picked up his bag and left.

While Shiraishi was cleaning the table, Yukari came in the kitchen.

"Hey Ku-_chan_, you okay? I heard Kenya yelling from upstairs." She pointed to the piñata Kenya threw near the refrigerator. "And what's with the piñata?"

"Long story," Shiraishi replied, sighing. "To make it short, Kenya thinks Hiro is trying to get rid of him."

"Really?" Yukari asked in surprise. "I wonder why he thinks that way. I thought he was your best friend."

Shiraishi just continued washing the used dishes. Yukari studied her brother for a while then thought for a second. She smiled in realization.

"I see what's wrong," Yukari said.

Shiraishi looked up from the sink. "What?"

"Kenya's jealous of Hiro-_chan_," Yukari explained. "Kenya's your best friend _now _in middle school, but Hiro-_chan_ has been your best friend since you were a kid. And now Hiro-_chan _is back, he feels that he's not your best friend anymore."

"Well…" Shiraishi started. He couldn't think of Kenya that way. Maybe Hiro _did _do something? No, he can't think of Hiro that way, too. He tried to recall everything that happened throughout the day.

_I woke up. I called Hiro. We met at the gate. I showed him around school. We saw Kenya and—_

Shiraishi blinked.

"…Come to think of it," Shiraishi said slowly, "Kenya called me 'Kura' this morning."

His sister raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"I mean, he never calls me that," Shiraishi said. "Just… 'Shiraishi'. Like everyone else. He just called me that today."

"Oh," Yukari nodded her head slowly. "I see." She smirked at her brother. "_Someone_ has been pretty insensitive today, huh?"

Shiraishi glared at Yukari.

Yukari just smirked again. "Well, I still think Kenya's jealous of Hiro-_chan_."

"W…what? Kenya isn't like that!" Shiraishi defended his friend.

Yukari shrugged. "I'm just saying," she said. "Well, which one of them is _really_ your best friend anyway?"

Shiraishi grunted in irritation. "You know I never choose over anyone!" He said.

"Oh come on, I'm just asking!"

"You're doing it again, Yukari. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? It's like that time when you're making me choose between you and _onee-chan_!"

Yukari smiled slyly. "Speaking of that. So is it me or _onee-chan_?"

Suddenly, their cousin Iyuno came in the kitchen.

"Hey, Yukari, why did you leave?" The tomboy Iyuno asked in a bored tone. "We haven't finished our project yet."

"Oh hey, Yuno-_chan_," Yukari said. "I'm just talking to Ku-_chan_. I'll go up later."

"Will you just go back upstairs?"

"But I'm still talking to Ku-_chan_!"

Shiraishi gave Yukari a good, long, get-out-of-the-kitchen-and-leave-me-alone-for-a-second look.

"Fine." Yukari rolled her eyes and went out of the kitchen with Yuno.

Shiraishi went back to washing the used dishes. He suddenly got a worried look on his face.

_I hope not…_


	3. The chocolates, stomachache & the truth

At lunch the next day, Kenya never felt so relieved his entire life. All day, starting from morning practice, everyone was around Hiro and Kenya didn't like it. Shiraishi was also with him during the morning break, so Kenya had to sit with his other classmates. He was almost glad when Shiraishi went up to him to talk, or so Kenya thought—Shiraishi just wanted to say he was meeting Chitose later at lunch to hear his decision on joining the club. He wanted Kenya to come along.

Kenya decided to use lunch today to spend time with his friend and apologize for his behavior yesterday. He also wants spend time with Shiraishi before that… that _thing _of a best friend gets to Shiraishi first.

On his way to the club room, Kenya noticed that the door was left open. Shiraishi's probably there already. Unfortunately, when he peeked in the room, Hiro was there with Chitose and Shiraishi. Kenya got annoyed and turned his heels, but after a few steps, he stopped and looked back at the door. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat then walked back to the club room. He was _not _going to lose to that guy!

"Hey guys, what's up?" Kenya walked in the club room casually, walking over to the three.

"Oh hey Kenya!" Shiraishi said cheerfully. "Chitose finally decided. He's gonna join us!"

Chitose chuckled. "I guess I just can't let go of tennis that easy."

Kenya grinned and patted him on the back. "That's great, man. You'll be a great addition to the team!" He said as he sat between Chitose and Shiraishi.

"Hey, Kenya-kun," Hiro, who was seated on the other side beside Shiraishi, waved.

Kenya mentally glared at him. "Oi," he said with a cheerful smile on his face. "Sorry about yesterday, aha ha…"

Chitose blinked. "Yesterday?"

Kenya waved his hands in front of him. "It's nothing, really."

"Well anyway, here's your registration form," Shiraishi handed Chitose a piece of paper. "Just fill it up and hand it over to me this afternoon at practice. Or coach, when you happen to see him."

"Nope, not to coach," Kenya said, shaking his head. "He'll probably lose it before he could even read what it says."

Shiraishi laughed. "Alright, just hand it to me then."

Chitose glanced at the clock on the wall behind him and stood up. "Thanks guys, I gotta go now. I need to finish something in the school office."

"See you later," Hiro waved.

Chitose waved back and went out of the room.

"Well, should we go back to the classroom?" Shiraishi asked.

"No, wait a sec," Hiro said before Kenya and Shiraishi could stand. "I have something for Kenya."

"What?" Kenya asked.

Hiro opened his bag and took out a medium-sized box. "Here," he said handing it to Kenya. "I'm sorry about yesterday. These are special Persian chocolates my grandma got. They're really hard to get so I hope you like them," Hiro said.

"Woah, really?" Kenya said excitedly, grabbing the box.

Hiro laughed. "Well, you _did_ want candy."

Shiraishi sighed in relief. "Well, I'm glad you two made up."

Kenya opened the box and began eating the chocolates. "Mm, these are really good!" He said as he stood up, still putting chocolates in his mouth. "If you'll excuse me, I've got a box of hard-to-get Persian chocolates to finish."

Shiraishi laughed, glad that Kenya had gotten over the situation. He glanced at Hiro. "Hey Hiro, do you have your things for practice later? We should play a match," he said.

"Sure, sounds cool," Hiro said.

Shiraishi felt really happy. He has never been excited for club practice since his first day in middle school.

* * *

Kenjiro was dressing up for practice in the club room. He was wondering why Kenya hasn't arrived yet, since Kenya usually arrives before he does on afternoon practices unlike in the morning.

All of a sudden, the door busted open to reveal a sick-looking Kenya with a trash bin locked in one arm. He was coughing really badly and looked like he really needed to vomit.

"Woah, woah, Kenya!" He wailed. "What happened? You look horrible!"

Kenya coughed in the trash bin a few times before answering. "Thanks," He answered sarcastically. He sat down on one of the benches and kept coughing.

"What on earth did you put in your stomach today?" Kenjiro asked, patting Kenya on the back.

Kenya swallowed and coughed. "Try asking Hiro that!"

"Hiro? Why—"

The speed star began coughing again. Kenjiro continued patting his back.

"Have you gone to the infirmary?" Kenjiro asked, worried.

"Yeah. I can't stand the tight atmosphere there so I went out," he explained before coughing again.

A few seconds later, Shiraishi and Hiro came in the club room. Shiraishi heard Kenya's continuous coughing and quickly looked to Kenya's direction to see who it was.

"Oh man, Kenya, are you alright? You look horrible!"

Kenya glared at Shiraishi. "I already know that, thank you!"

"Okay, sorry," Shiraishi said, running over to Kenya and began patting his back too. He turned to face Kenjiro. "What did he eat, anyway?"

Kenjiro shrugged and slowly glanced at Hiro.

"It's Hiro," Kenya choked out in between his coughs.

Shiraishi looked at Hiro skeptically. Hiro gave him a puzzled look in return.

"Those chocolates that he gave me made my stomach rumble... now I feel as sick as a horse with diarrhea!" Kenya wailed.

Hiro blinked at them, "What do you mean? Those chocolates are expensive, they can't do anything bad to you!"

Kenya threw the trash bin to the floor in anger, making Shiraishi and Kenjiro jump surprise. "Well let me tell you," Kenya snapped at Hiro, "Have you checked the—"

Suddenly, Kenya choked and paused, then clutched his stomach. "Oh _god_…" he managed to choke out before he ran out of the club room.

Shiraishi ran after him, which was difficult because Kenya was already meters away from him in a split second. Later, he found him the men's room, where he was throwing up all the contents of his stomach.

Kenya coughed a couple more times before going to the sink to wash his face. Shiraishi walked over to him and handed him his handkerchief, which Kenya accepted and used to wipe his mouth. The speed star then took a deep breath and exhaled.

"There, I think I'm okay now. Let's go back to practice," Kenya said before beginning to cough again, only lesser than before.

Shiraishi studied Kenya's face. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kenya said grumpily, walking ahead of Shiraishi. _I'm gonna give that foot face a lesson once I see him,_ Kenya thought angrily.

While walking together, Kenya looked at Shiraishi with a mad expression. "Look Shiraishi, that guy did this on purpose!"

"Kenya, why are you saying that?" Shiraishi asked, surprised. "Hiro has been doing good things to you since he came here. He invited you for a chopper ride, gave you some chocolates and promised to replace your phone!"

"Man, open your eyes!" Kenya wailed. "He practically poisoned your mind!"

"Kenya, Hiro didn't do anything wrong!"

Once Kenya reached the door knob, he looked back at Shiraishi who was right behind him and snapped, "He's trying to get rid of me, okay?"

Shiraishi was taken back by what Kenya said. "But Kenya—"

When Kenya opened the door to the club room, he suddenly began coughing again, getting attention from Kenjiro, Chitose, Hiro, their coach Watanabe Osamu and a first year named Zaizen Hikaru.

"Hey, kid, you don't look so good. What are you still doing here?" Osamu said. "You should be in the infirmary!"

"No thanks, coach, I'm fine," Kenya said weakly.

"Kenya, I think you should go there. I don't like anyone sick playing during practice."

Chitose nodded. "He's right, Kenya. Just go to the infirmary, maybe you'll feel better," he said.

Kenjiro and Hiro nodded as well.

Osamu glanced at Zaizen. "Hey you. Go accompany your _senpai_ to the infirmary," he ordered.

Zaizen grunted. "Why me?"

"Because I said so," Osamu glared at the kid.

Shiraishi scratched the back of his head. "Just do it, Zaizen. We need to start practice now, so hurry."

"I can go myself," Kenya protested. "Go ahead and start without me."

"See? He said he doesn't want me to," Zaizen said and walked out of the club room through the other door that led outside.

Osamu narrowed his eyes at Zaizen as he walked out of the club room himself. "Cheeky brat."

"You should be at the infirmary, Kenya," Chitose said. "You can't play when you're sick."

"He's right," Kenjiro said as he walked out with Chitose.

"See you later," Hiro waved as he followed Kenjiro and Chitose.

Kenya sent him his deadliest _death_ glare.

Shiraishi sighed at the sight of this and looked at Kenya seriously. "Look Kenya, I'll talk to you later. Go to the infirmary and get some rest. I'll see you after practice." He went off as well.

As the door closed, Kenya, left alone in the room just stood there for a second, feeling as if Shiraishi had just walked out of his life for good. He heard Shiraishi yelling for the members to assemble. Kenya walked to the window and watched the ongoing practice.

"Alright guys. We have a new member and a special guest today," Shiraishi announced. "Let's welcome our new member first."

Chitose stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hello everyone. I'm Chitose Senri, year two class one. I recently transferred here from Shishigaku. I hope I'll feel welcome here," he said, bowing.

Due to familiarization from the Nationals, some of the club members began whispering and talking to each other. Shiraishi clapped his hands to get their attention back.

"Alright now, let's hear from our special guest," Shiraishi said.

Hiro stepped forward. "Hello everyone, I'm Nagasuki Hirokaze," he began. "Some of you have met me earlier this morning, but I'd like to give a proper introduction of myself. Your captain and I went to elementary school together, so I'm sorry if he bothered you with my visit," he laughed. "Anyway, I attend a tennis school at Hiroshima, and your captain thought maybe I could give little pointers for your team. So, I'm here to help. I hope I feel welcome here too." Hiro bowed.

The club members began talking in awe.

"Wow, he attends a tennis school!"

"He must be pretty good!"

"Yeah!"

From the club room, Kenya could hear his team mates talking excitedly. He also saw Shiraishi and Hiro talking to each other, laughing once in a while. Hiro actually looks like a nice guy. He mentally slapped himself when he realized that he just thought of Hiro as a nice guy.

He sighed and walked out of the club room.

* * *

About an hour later, club practice was over, and Shiraishi went over to the infirmary to see Kenya. When he got there, he asked the nurse if Kenya is alright first, then the nurse told him to get some soup for Kenya to make him feel better so he went back outside to get some soup before going back.

Later, he was back in the infirmary and laughed when he saw Kenya lounging on the bed.

"Yo, Kenya," Shiraishi said, walking over to him and handed him the bowl of soup.

"Hey, thanks," Kenya said, carefully opening the package. Shiraishi noticed his sudden change in mood; his rest probably got him to cool his head.

"The nurse said you should take some soup before you leave," Shiraishi said. "She said it'll make you feel better." He took the wrap from Kenya and placed it on the table beside the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I guess," Kenya said, lightly blowing the soup. "I stopped throwing up for the last half hour, I think that's a good sign."

Shiraishi laughed. "Hiro already went home. He said he hope you'll get well soon."

At the mention of Hiro's name, Kenya _glared_ at the soup, then at Shiraishi. "Hiro didn't touch this, did he?"

Shiraishi placed his palm on his face. "Kenya, how many times do I have to tell you? Hiro isn't trying to harm you," he said.

Kenya sighed and placed the soup on the bedside table and sat up the bed. "Yes, yes he is."

Shiraishi sat on the bed beside Kenya. "Kenya, you're overreacting you know that?"

"I wouldn't be if Hiro didn't try to food poison me in the first place," Kenya whined.

"What?"

Kenya stood up and went into the nurse's office, then came out with his tennis bag. He opened it and took out the box of Persian chocolates Hiro gave him earlier at lunch. He handed it to Shiraishi. "There. Take a look at the expiration date."

Shiraishi took the box. "How can I read this? It's in a different language."

"That's why I looked it up," Kenya said, irritated. "The expiry date on that says it was _five years ago_!"

Shiraishi looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"I'm serious!"

"Look, there must be some mistake," Shiraishi said in disbelief.

Kenya's jaw dropped. "You _still _don't believe me even after that? Oh come on!"

Shiraishi stood up. "There has to be an explanation for this," he said.

"I don't think you heard me," Kenya said madly. "The expiry date on the box was five years ago. Those chocolates have been expired since I was _eight years old_!" He wailed.

Then, Kenya suddenly became quiet. He laid back on the bed, clutching his stomach. "Oh crap… I just ate chocolates that were expired since I was eight years old…"

Shiraishi sighed for the nth time and took his phone out of his pocket. "Alright, let's get out of here _now_ and have a good talk with Hiro. Let's clear things up, okay?"

Kenya jerked up from his bed. "No, no, no—I don't want to see that foot face—!" He tried to stop Shiraishi but failed.

"Hello? Hiro?" Shiraishi talked to Hiro on the phone. "Yeah, it's me. Can we meet up? I'm with Kenya. Yeah. How about at the takoyaki stand we went to the other day? Yeah, the one we went to before the helicopter ride. Sure. Thanks. I'll see you later."

Kenya's jaw dropped in disbelief. "No. _Freaking_. Way."

Shiraishi nodded his head. "Yes way."

* * *

At the takoyaki stand, Shiraishi, Kenya and Hiro were all seated on one table, talking.

"I'm really sorry about the chocolates," Hiro said. "My grandma bought these on her last trip out of the country. She must have kept them all this time. They _are_ hard to find after all."

Kenya took a sip of his smoothie. He accepted Hiro's apology. Not like he wanted to. He did for the sake of Shiraishi.

And he still smells something fishy.

"I'm really sorry about everything," Hiro said. He held out a hand. "Truce?"

"Sure," Kenya said and held out his hand too.

Shiraishi smiled. "Great!"

"Hey, kiddo!" The man who was behind the takoyaki stand called to Shiraishi. "Your takoyaki's ready."

Shiraishi stood up. "Just a sec guys, I'll go get the takoyaki."

When Shiraishi went to get the takoyaki, Kenya decided to talk to Hiro decently for once.

"So. When exactly did you and Kura meet?" Kenya asked.

"Oh shut up." Hiro snapped.

Kenya blinked. He looked to his right, then to his left, then behind him. No one else was there. So the guy he was talking to…

He pointed to himself questioningly.

"Of course I'm talking to you," Hiro said with a smug smile on his face.

Kenya bit his lower lip. "Ah, I see you're finally showing your true colors, foot face," he said sarcastically.

Hiro looked over at Shiraishi who was still facing the takoyaki vendor, then leaned over the table to give Kenya a good glare. "Look buddy, _I'm_ Kura's best friend. So he won't listen to you no matter what. You're just a mud mutt who thinks _he's_ the best friend," Hiro said, smirking. "So don't waste your time trying to get around him, alright? Quit clinging on to his popularity."

"Says the _ex-best friend_," Kenya said, smirking back. "I've been popular since I was a kid. Besides, I never knew you were pretty desperate. Looks like you needed a chopper to get his attention. I don't."

"Hah. You're probably just jealous."

A vein popped on Kenya's head. "Make sure you know what type your blood is, 'cause you're gonna be needing a _lot_ of blood after I'm done with you." He crushed his smoothie tumbler.

Just as Kenya and Hiro sat back properly on their seats, Shiraishi returned with their takoyaki.

"Here you go guys," Shiraishi said, placing the three separate orders on the table. He sat down and started eating. He noticed Kenya's crushed smoothie tumbler, and that Kenya and Hiro were staring at each other with creepy smiles. "Uh, guys, did something happen?"

"Nothing much," Kenya said, still smiling. "We just declared a new friendship."

The takoyaki vendor called Shiraishi again.

"Um, wait guys, I think the takoyaki I ordered for Yukari and Yuno are done," Shiraishi said, standing up again. "That was pretty fast…"

When the coast was clear, Kenya grinned at Hiro evilly and chuckled. "We declared a _war_, alright." He said. "Tomorrow. Tennis courts. Lunch break."

"Deal." Hiro grinned back as evilly as Kenya did.

* * *

Wow, the longest chapter so far O:

I think the chapter title just spoiled everything. xD

I'm trying to finish this today. I'll do my best~! Ecstasy! ;D

P.S. Oh no, don't get me wrong. Chitose is my fave character in Shitenhoji, not Kura or Kenya. I'll give him some more appearance later. 3


	4. Then it happens

"Good morniiiiing~"

Kenya was welcomed by a greeting from fellow teammates Konjiki Koharu and Hitoji Yuuji near the shoe lockers next morning.

"Uh… hey guys, what's up?" He asked.

Recently, Koharu and Yuuji became doubles partners. The now-well-known gay couple has been sticking to each other like glue, and the _mushy_ things they do makes Kenya uneasy. Actually… they make everyone uneasy. When they were first years, Koharu was clearly _gay_, but Yuuji wasn't. Imagine the surprise on their teammates faces when they found out that Yuuji is also gay a few weeks ago. Everyone's starting to get used to having the gay couple around, but still, the said mushy things they do make people uneasy. Not that it's pretty disgusting or anything, it's just weird… well, maybe a little _too_ disgusting sometimes, but you can always close your eyes, right?

"Kenya-_chan_! Please sign this," Koharu said, holding out a piece of paper. "This is from the student council."

Kenya took the paper from Koharu. "What's this?"

"It's for a raffle," Yuuji explained. "And there is only one winner. The winner gets to go on a 3-month international school cruise!"

"Wow, that's cool," Yukari suddenly popped up from nowhere, surprising Kenya. "But that would be too much of a risk. I can't leave my _friends_ alone," she emphasized the word _friends_ then snickered at Kenya.

Kenya raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Suddenly, someone snatched the paper from Kenya's hand.

"Hey!" Kenya wailed.

"Hey Yuno-_chan_," Koharu and Yuuji greeted Yuno, who snatched the paper from Kenya.

Yuno glared at the gay couple. "I told you stop calling me that."

Koharu and Yuuji grinned. "Alright, Yuno-_kun_. Don't be such a grumpy boy now~"

Yuno stared at the paper in her hand. "I _have _to win this," she said.

"Then sign!" Yuuji said.

"You could win the trip if you do~!" Koharu added.

Yuno reached into her pockets for a pen, but found nothing. She saw a pen poking out of Kenya's pocket and snatched it.

"Will give my pen back?" Kenya asked.

Yukari watched her cousin write her name and signature on the paper then raised an eyebrow. "Why do you wanna win that anyway?"

"All the food on cruise ships are free," Yuno replied.

"For that reason?"

"You've only been here for two weeks and you already wanna leave?" Kenya asked.

Yuno stared at Kenya blankly. "I need to get away from freaks like you. Speedo wacko."

"Speedo what?"

"Sorry guys, we'd love to stay and chat but we gotta go~" Koharu said, taking the paper back from Yuno. He looked at Kenya and Yukari. "You sure you're not gonna sign?"

Kenya and Yukari shook their heads.

"Okie-dokie!" Yuuji said cheerfully. "Bye-bye then~!"

"The drawing is later this afternoon. Good luck~!" Koharu blew them a kiss before he and Yuuji left.

The three shuddered and turned around.

"Hey, Yukari, you wanted to talk to this loser, right?" Yuno asked, nodding her head at Kenya. "Well, see 'ya loser."

"Says the girl who wears a guy's uniform," Kenya muttered under his breath. He faced Yukari. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yep," Yukari nodded. "It's about my brother."

"Huh? Why, did something happen to him?" Kenya asked.

"Not exactly." Yukari looked around. "But it _does_ concern you and Hiro-_chan_."

Kenya's face twitched. _That foot face?_

"Be honest with me, Kenya," Yukari smiled, crossing her arms, "are you jealous of Hiro-_chan_?"

"What the." Kenya glared at Yukari.

"No, really Kenya. Are you?"

The speed star shook his head. "Of course not! Why would I be jealous of that foot face?"

Yukari tilted her head. "Alright, number one, he's rich, he has his own helicopter and attends a special tennis school. Two, they call each other by nicknames unlike you two. And three," she narrowed her eyes at Kenya, "he and my brother were best friends when they were kids."

Kenya snorted. "I'm not jealous of foot face, okay?" He said. "For three reasons. One, I don't care if he's rich an has a helicopter and attends tennis school, because I'm content with my life and I became a good tennis player even if I didn't attend tennis school. Two, you don't measure friendship through name calling so I don't care what they call each other. And three," he paused for a second, then his voice became serious, "I may have only known Shiraishi in middle school, but I'm a much better friend than someone like Hiro who is just pretending and is trying to get rid of me."

Yukari watched Kenya walk away. She didn't know who to believe—she has known Kenya for some time now, but not as long as Hiro-_chan_. Though Kenya seemed to be jealous, Hiro-_chan_ _may_ have some little tricks up his sleeve…

She shrugged and decided to let her brother deal with the matter.

* * *

Morning break.

Kenya wished it was lunch already.

He couldn't wait to kick that foot face's ass.

He smirked at the thought of beating Hiro six games to zero.

Shiraishi went to the club room and, of course, that foot face accompanied him.

Now Kenya was sitting alone on his desk in the room, excited about teaching Hiro a lesson.

"Hey." Someone called behind him.

Kenya was still thinking evil thoughts so he didn't hear anything.

"Hey."

Silence.

"Hey, speed dork."

Kenya heard this one, whowever, and immediately stood up to glare at the person behind him.

"What the hell do you want, kid?" He continued to glare at Zaizen. "And what are you doing here in my classroom?"

Zaizen handed him a pocket calculator with his name on it. "You left this in the club room yesterday," Zaizen said in a bored tone.

He glanced at the calculator and took it back. "Oh. Thanks." _Probably fell out of my pocket during the stomachache._

Zaizen stared at Kenya for a second while Kenya returned to his thoughts.

"Oshitari-_senpai_."

"Hm?"

"Did something happen between you and _buchou_?"

Kenya's thoughts snapped and he quickly glanced at Zaizen. "What?"

"You two were the last to leave the club room yesterday," Zaizen replied.

"It's nothing. Why do you ask?"

"Because he looked really upset during yesterday's practice."

Kenya looked down at his desk for a second, then back at Zaizen. "Really?" He asked, even though he knew he was being dumb—of course Shiraishi would be upset that time, he said mean things about Hiro to him.

Zaizen blinked. "And I saw you leave the infirmary together yesterday."

"Ah. I see. We just had a little problem, but it's okay now."

"Oh." Zaizen began to walk away.

"Um, hey kid, wait a sec," Kenya stopped him.

"Hm?"

"What's your name?"

"Zaizen."

"No, I already know that, I mean… your _name_?"

Zaizen raised an eyebrow. "Hikaru."

Kenya nodded slowly. "I see." He smiled. "Thanks for telling me about Shiraishi."

Zaizen nodded and went out of the room.

Kenya sat back, happy that Shiraishi was worried about him. He wondered how sad practice was for Shiraishi yesterday. Practice. Without him. _Him_, Shiraishi's _best friend_. And with that pesky foot face.

Remembering Shiraishi made him remember about what Yukari said that morning.

___Are you jealous of Hiro-_chan_?_

_He and my brother were best friends when they were kids._

He didn't like remembering that.  
_  
_Not at all.

He went out of the classroom.

* * *

Kenjiro stopped writing on his notebook. He was copying some notes from his classmate's notebook, and with certain thoughts drifting back and forth in his mind, he couldn't concentrate on writing. He's already has over ten erasures on the page he was writing on. Sighing, he placed the notebooks back under his desk.

"Hey, Kenjiro."

Kenjiro looked up to see who it was. "Oi, Kenya."

Kenya took the chair from the desk in font of Kenjiro's and sat on it. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just copying some notes."

"Oh."

Kenjiro looked around. Just a few people were there.

"Hey, listen. I want to talk to you about Shiraishi," Kenjiro said.

Kenya raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Sure."

"And Hiro."

The speed star looked at his friend blankly.

"Look, I know you don't like Hiro."

"Oh good, you already kno—"

"Let me finish," Kenjiro interrupted. "Now. At practice yesterday, Shiraishi looked really down. Did you say something to him?"

"No," Kenya sulked. "Just the truth."

"The _truth_?"

"Yeah, about Hiro," Kenya said, looking angry. He leaned on the table and looked at Kenjiro in the eye. "Look man, that foot is a two-faced, desperate ex-best friend," he pointed out. "Haven't you noticed? He is trying to _get rid of me_!"

"No wonder he was upset," Kenjiro said. "Kenya, Shiraishi has known Hiro for a long time. Saying those things to him would definitely bring him down."

"But—"

"Kenya, I have no idea what happened to you after practice yesterday, but Shiraishi looked pretty tense this morning so I asked what was wrong. He said you and Hiro made up, but he's still feeling a little nervous about it. Especially about you."

"Uh, Kenjiro, Hiro tried to _food poison_ me yesterday."

Kenjiro shook his head and sighed. "Hiro's a nice guy, he's done a lot for everyone yesterday," he said.

"Kenjiro, I'm telling the truth. He's not really a friendly dude. He's just making everyone believe he is so _I'll _look like the bad guy!" Kenya whispered loudly.

Kenjiro looked at him doubtfully. "Maybe you're just jealous of him, Kenya."

Kenya couldn't believe his ears. "What…? Oh come on! I can't believe even _you _think of me that way!"

"Even me?"

"Yukari came to me this morning and said the same thing. I'm not jealous of him!"

"Yukari is Shiraishi's little sister, so she probably knew Hiro too," Kenjiro matter-of-factly. "Yukari knows his personality, and Yukari knows you too—maybe that's the truth and you're just scared to admit it."

The two sat there in silence.

"…Darn it." Kenya muttered in disbelief.

Kenjiro studied Kenya's face. "…Kenya?"

Kenya stood up quickly, making his chair fall back and gathered the attention of the students in the classroom. He walked out as quickly as he could.

Part of Kenjiro believed that Kenya was _really _jealous of Hiro.

Part of him also believed Kenya was right.

* * *

Walking grumpily around the corridors, Kenya decided to go to the canteen and eat something. When he got there, he suddenly lost appetite and turned around, and went to the men's bathroom instead.

When he reached the bathroom, his team's most powerful player, Ishida Gin, was there near one of the sinks.

"Hey, Gin," Kenya greeted him unhappily.

Gin watched Kenya go to the sink beside him, washing face. When he was done, he glanced at his wet face in the mirror then looked down at the sink. Gin knew something was bothering him, but being his quiet self, he didn't bother to ask. Kenya always solves his own problems in a flash.

Kenya sighed, leaning his hands on the sink's edges. He looked over to Gin slowly.

"Hey Gin?" Kenya asked, biting his lower lip before sighing again. "If… your best friend's old friend comes back and your best friend doesn't realize his old friend is actually trying to get rid of you, what would you do?"

"Nothing good will come out of any wrong doing." Gin said and proceeded on washing his hands.

Kenya's shoulders slumped. "I know that, but… Shiraishi doesn't believe me. _Everyone _doesn't believe me. They all think I'm _jealous _of Hiro! Well I'm not. You don't think I am, do you?"

Gin neither nodded or shook his head. "If he is truly your friend, he will see the truth."

Kenya looked down at his feet before going out. He was in such a hurry to leave that he didn't notice Chitose leaning on the wall next to the door.

After a while, Gin also went out of the bathroom. He and Chitose looked at each other.

"Now I see what's going on," Chitose said worriedly.

* * *

It was finally lunch break, and Kenya was on his way to the club room. He had this serious look on his face all day, which made it hard for anyone to talk to him—everyone knew that they shouldn't bother Kenya when he's in a bad mood. He stomped his way in the club room and found Hiro in the room alone.

"Hey. Ready to lose?" Kenya asked him sarcastically.

Hiro smirked. "I should be asking you that."

Kenya went over to his tennis bag on one of the shelves and took out his racket. He and Hiro glared at each other before heading out.

* * *

Shiraishi has just finished studying in the library. He usually shares his new notes with Kenya so he decided to look for him. Lunch break would be over in ten minutes, so it would be better if Kenya would take a look on his notes before class starts. He has been looking for Kenya since he got out of the library, but he already went around the third year classrooms and he still couldn't find the speed remembered Hiro borrowing the key to the club room earlier. Hiro said he left something. Shiraishi thought maybe Kenya's also there.

While on his way to the club room, Shiraishi saw Chitose and Gin. He noticed Gin nodding to something Chitose said, then left as Chitose waved to him.

"Oi, Chitose," Shiraishi called.

"Shiraishi," Chitose said as Shiraishi walked up to him.

"Have you seen Kenya?" Shiraishi asked. "I've been looking around for him."

Chitose shrugged. "No, I haven't seen him. I was looking for him too," he replied.

Shiraishi scratched his head. "Well, you wanna look for him?"

"Sure."

While the two walked together, Chitose glanced at Shiraishi. "Why were you looking for him?"

"I wanted to share him some of my new notes," Shiraishi said. "We always do."

"I see."

"Well, what about you? Why were you looking for Kenya?"

Chitose blinked. "Ah… well…" he tried to make up an excuse, but he couldn't think of anything. "Um… Kenya's having some personal problems. I thought maybe I could help."

Shiraishi looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Personal problems? That's strange, he always comes up to me to tell me his problem when something's wrong."

"He can't tell you because the problem _is _you."

"Oh…"

"Yeah."

Shiraishi stopped walking. "Wait. You said what now?"

Chitose sweat dropped. _Woops_.

Shiraishi stepped in front of Chitose, looking annoyed. "Chitose, what's going on?" Then slowly, realization hit him. "Is it about Hiro?"

Chitose looked to another direction before nodding.

Shiraishi looked down at the floor. "Please tell me what you know."

"I think you already do," Chitose said as Shiraishi looked back at him. "Why don't _you_ talk to him about it?"

"But we don't know where he is."

"Have you tried the club room?"

Shiraishi shook his head. "I'll go check."

Chitose watched Shiraishi watched him go down the stairs.

He sighed and hoped that everything will be okay for Kenya and Shiraishi.

* * *

Hiro glared at Kenya across the tennis court, gasping.

Kenya smirked at him in return. "Well what now? It's three games to _zero_. I though you were sooo good 'cause you attend a tennis school," he said sarcastically. "No speed, no life!"

"Shut up," Hiro snapped.

"Well, let's continue shall we?"

Suddenly, the door to the tennis courts opened, revealing their _prized_ best friend.

Shiraishi glanced at Kenya, then slowly at Hiro. "What's going on?"

There was a pause, then Hiro laughed sheepishly. "We were just having a friendly match. Isn't that allowed?" He asked.

Kenya didn't respond.

Neither did Shiraishi.

"…Hiro, I need to talk to Kenya for a moment." Shiraishi simply stated. He walked over to Kenya, grabbed his arm, then led him out of the courts.

When they were gone, Hiro frowned at the gate where Kenya and Shiraishi just left, then smirked.

_I most likely won_.

Meanwhile, Shiraishi and Kenya stopped under a shady tree outside the school building. He let go of Kenya and crossed his arms.

"I thought you and Hiro already made up!" He wailed.

Kenya wanted to snap back, 'We did, weren't you there with us yesterday?', but mentally shook his head and decided to quit living up this damn _lie_.

"I keep telling you, that foot face is trying to get rid of me!" Kenya yelled. "Why can't you see that? Haven't you realized there's something wrong going on around here?"

Shiraishi slapped his palm on his face and frowned at Kenya, "_Why_ do you keep saying that? Do you have _any_ idea how that makes me feel?"

"Well then how do you think _you_ believing in his lies make _me_ feel?"

Stepping back from Kenya, Shiraishi leaned over the tree for a second then faced Kenya again. He took a deep breath.

"Be honest and tell me the truth, Kenya. Are you jealous of Hiro?"

Kenya's jaw dropped.

Silence.

After a few seconds, Kenya turned around slowly.

Shiraishi tilted his head and tried to see Kenya's face.

"Kenya?"

Then suddenly, Kenya turned around madly and threw up his hands. "I can't believe this!" He yelled. "I can't believe _you_!"

"What now?"

Kenya pointed to Shiraishi. "You," he breathed out in anger, "_you_ were the last person I could think of who could say that to me. And you know what? You just confirmed it!"

Shiraishi threw up his hands as well. "Confirmed what?"

"That you choose Hiro over me!"

Shiraishi looked at him in disbelief, but didn't say anything.

Kenya glanced at Shiraishi for one last time, then looked away. "That settles it. See you around."

"I…"

Kenya swung his racket over his shoulder and walked away.

Shiraishi couldn't do anything but watch him.

* * *

"And now, let's draw our winner's name for the school cruise raffle," the student council president said, reaching his hand in the box full of strips of paper. The other student council members were crowded around the box excitedly. "And the winner is…"

The president took out a strip of paper and read the name on it. He showed it to the other members. A member took it from him and passed it around.

The paper strip soon reached Koharu. When he read the name on the paper, he smiled and laughed.

"Oh, what a surprise!" He exclaimed.

The president nodded. "Yeah," he said. "And he's only been here for a while. It's amazing that he won the school raffle."

"Yes," Koharu nodded. "But I wonder how Kura-rin will react to this!"

Another student council member raised an eyebrow. "Shiraishi-_san_? Why?"

Koharu stuck out his tounge and smiled. "Oh, it's nothing~"

The president cleared his throat. "Well, that's all for today, everyone. Please don't tell anyone who the winner is! We will announce the winner tomorrow morning."

The rest of the student council members nodded. "_Hai!_"

The student president walked up to Koharu. "Koharu, you take care of telling the winner that he won. You're the one who's familiar with him in the student council, anyway."

"Okay~"

As Koharu went out of the student council room, he saw a familiar person walking towards his direction.

"Hello, Chitose-_kun_~!"

Chitose glanced at Koharu. "Hey, Koharu. What's up?"

Koharu smiled. "Oh, nothing much." Then he smiled slyly. "Though I do have a secret to share…"

* * *

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! You're such a _baka, _Kenya!_

The Naniwa speed star continuously cursed himself as he stomped out of the classroom after school.

Kenya was really mad at himself. Why did he say those things to Shiraishi? Now he'll never get Shiraishi back!

At the shoe lockers, after Kenya replaced his shoes, he banged his head on the lockers and leaned on it. Now everything will be harder than it already is.

He closed his eyes for a second, then peeked at his side. He saw Shiraishi's cousin Yuno walk across the corridor. Seeing Yuno made him remember about Shiraishi again. He looked back at the floor then closed his eyes again.

Then, a thought came to him, and he slowly raised his head.

His pride was at risk at his idea, but he really didn't care now.

All he wanted was his best friend back.

As he turned around to walk to the other direction, he noticed a familiar person standing there.

"Osamu?"

Osamu put his hands in his coat's pockets. "Kenya? Are you alright? Are you feeling sick again?"

"Uh, no…"

Kenya's reply didn't sound convincing.

"What's wrong?" Osamu asked.

Kenya just bit his lower lip and looked down at the floor. "I'll go home now." He started to walk away slowly.

Outside the school building, when he was just about to exit the school entrance, he heard a voice call him.

"Kenya-_kun_!" Chitose waved.

"Oi, Chitose."

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Home."

Chitose gave a blank stare at Kenya's answer. He sighed and smiled. "Want to eat somewhere, Kenya?"

"I—"

"I'll pay," Chitose interrupted. "I just want to talk to you, Kenya. I know what's going on."

Kenya opened his mouth to decline, but then closed it and nodded. "I know a place."

At the takoyaki stand where Kenya and Shiraishi usually go to, Kenya told Chitose everything, from Hiro's arrival to the yelling he gave Shiraishi during lunch. Kenya didn't really care about what Chitose was going to say—he felt relieved when he let it out. It was making him sick. The Chitose listened to everything he said, nodding every now and then.

"What do I do?" Kenya asked miserably, dropping his head on the table.

Chitose thought for a while. "Well first of course, you'll have to apologize to Shiraishi for everything you said to him," he said. "But I really can't help you with the rest. I don't know much about Hiro nor Shiraishi, even you. So you should go ask help from someone you trust and who could trust you."

"I actually thought of that earlier," Kenya said. "But I dunno who to ask help from."

Then, something from the past came back to Kenya.

"…You know, I just realized that this happened to me before," Kenya said. "Well not exactly, but sort of."

"Really?" Chitose asked, putting a piece of takoyaki in his mouth.

"Yeah," Kenya nodded. "It was with my cousin Yuushi. Before he moved to Tokyo about a year ago, we had a fight about it."

"Why?"

"Well I… I didn't want him to leave," Kenya said, his face beginning to redden. "Although we _do _fight a lot because of comparison, we were like… best friends. Brothers, actually. When he said he was moving to Tokyo, I felt sad and wanted him to stay here in Osaka. Long story short, I got mad at him, he got mad at me. We were mad at each other until the day before he was leaving. Then I felt guilty and realized that I couldn't stand not being able to at least say goodbye, so I asked help from someone."

Chitose raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"His older sister," Kenya replied. "_Onee-chan_ helped me made up with Yuushi. Everything became okay again on the day he left," Kenya said. Then he laughed a little. "Funny though, on his first day in Tokyo, he called me first and he said he was having a horrible time there, and that they didn't have any good takoyaki. Ever since, we call each other a lot."

Chitose laughed. "Really?"

"Uh huh," Kenya laughed too. "I hate saying this but… I really _do_ miss Yuushi. A lot." He admitted sheepishly.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Chitose said. Then and idea came into his head. He eaned on his chin on his hand. "You asked help from your cousin's sister right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Shiraishi has a sister right? Why don't you try her?"

Kenya shook his head. "No. She was actually the first person to assume that I was jealous of that… _that…_ foot face."

Chitose nodded slowly. "I see. I guess it's not gonna be that easy…"

Kenya blinked. "Well, I did thought of someone."

"Really? Who?"

"Well…" Kenya began, scratching his head. "Let's just say confronting this person will take a lot of my pride."

Chitose smiled. "Whatever you say Kenya. Good luck," he said.

Kenya stood up. "Thanks for listening to me, Chitose," he said.

"No problem. See 'ya."

The speed star turned around to walk, but then looked back at Chitose. "Hey, Chitose."

"Yeah?"

"You should come sit with me and the guys during breaks. You're gonna like them."

"Thanks, Kenya."

With that, Kenya took a deep breath and began walking to his destination.

* * *

"Hm? You'll come home late?"

Yuno was at the phone, talking to his cousin Kuranosuke.

_Yeah, but not too late. I'm just gonna hang out with Hiro_. Shiraishi said on the other line.

"Yeah yeah, as long as you get your butt home, I don't care." Yuno said. She could picture Shiraishi rolling his eyes over the phone.

_Do you need anything? I'm passing by the bookstore. I—_

"I don't care—just bring me a bucket of takoyaki." Yuno interrupted, bored with the conversation.

Shiraishi sighed. _Well, later._

As Yuno placed the phone back on the receiver, the doorbell rang. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Kenya.

"My cousins aren't here," Yuno simply stated.

"Hello to you too," Kenya snorted. "And I know Shiraishi's not here. I wanted to see you."

Yuno pointed to herself. "Me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to ask help from you."

"No thanks," Yuno said and turned around.

"Wait!" Kenya stopped her. "It's about your cousin. And Hiro."

Yuno smirked and faced Kenya. "Oh, so _that_'s it."

Kenya's face dropped. "You know?"

"I _knew_," Yuno corrected him. "Kura told Yukari about it and Yukari told me. From the piñata to the chocolates."

"I… see," Kenya said. "Look, I need you to help me make Kura realize that Hiro's a fake. You—"

"Couldn't care less," Yunno interrupted.

"What?" Kenya asked in disbelief. "I know you don't like me, but—come on!"

"I don't put myself in other people's problems, okay?" Yuno said. "This is supid. I don't want to be part of it."

Kenya's shoulders slumped. "You think I'm jealous of Hiro too, don't you."

Yuno snorted. "I didn't say anything like that."

"Hiro's a living _lie_," Kenya said.

Yuno didn't reply.

Kenya looked at her for a second. He then turned around to leave.

Yuno bit her lower lip. "Give me a good reason to believe you."

Kenya turned around slowly.

"Because I came here."

Yuno raised an eyebrow.

"I never asked you for help," Kenya said. "But… you never lied to me. I trust you."

And with that, the speed star left.

Yuno blinked.

She leaned on the door frame and looked aside for a second, then at where she last saw Kenya.

She sighed and went back inside the house.

* * *

O: This is actually longer than the last chapter... O:

I tried to finish this part last night but I felt sleepy. |D Look, I already neglected my other fic (Things Aren't So Bad When You're Around) and that Sakuno pairing contest on deviantART just to get this finished. OTL

I'm typing the entire story on one document, and now I have a total of 30 pages on MS Word. I still have to make a seperate file for each chapter then edit them here on so I'm having a hard time, especially since my computer sucks. xD

Also changed the rating to T.

Stay tuned for the last chapter~! :D


	5. And Yuno saves the day!

It was the next day, and Kenya headed over to the shoe lockers. While he was changing his shoes, someone walked next to him. He looked up to see who it was.

Hiro crossed his arms and leaned on the lockers with an envelope on one hand, smirking as he watched Kenya.

Kenya glared at him and stood up. He also leaned on the lockers.

"What's up, loser?" Hiro asked sarcastically.

"Nothing much," Kenya said as sarcastically as Hiro as he threw one shoe in his locker, then threw another. "Just placing my shoes in my shoe locker while I'm staring at a _foot_."

Hiro shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. Still at it when you already lost, huh?"

Kenya smirked and crossed his arms. "I think you're forgetting that I won three to zero yesterday."

"Psh. We didn't even finish the match, stupid."

"Then why don't we finish it today, dimwit?"

Hiro snickered at Kenya as he shook his head. They were so concentrated on snapping at each other that they didn't notice someone coming behind Hiro. "Look. I don't need to do that," he said. "Because _I'm _his best friend. And everyone believes that you're just jealous of me."

Kenya frowned. "So you've been spying on other people too?"

"Who cares? All I know is that everything is going my way," Hiro bragged. "And once everybody thinks your just a jealous loser, I won't have any more problems with getting rid of you."

"What?" Shiraishi wailed in disbelief.

Hiro turned around. Kenya snickered as he saw Shiraishi.

"Um… hey, Kura," Hiro greeted Shiraishi.

Shiraishi looked at Hiro skeptically. "You _were_ trying to get rid of Kenya!"

"But Kura—"

"I heard you clearly," Shiraishi interrupted.

"You're in a pit hole now," Kenya scoffed.

"I can't believe this!" Shiraishi yelled. "You're such a—"

"Wackjob!"

"—Wackjob!"

Hiro smiled. "Come on, Kura, I'm you're best friend," he said.

"I only have one best friend," Shiraishi said, walking past Hiro and went beside Kenya.

Hiro smirked and shrugged. "Well, you two have fun then," he snickered. He opened the envelope he was holding, took out a piece of paper and showed it to them. "Because I'm going to have fun on an international school cruise!" he said sarcastically and waved as he walked away. "See you later!"

"See you _never_, foot face," Kenya shouted at him.

There was a short silence as the two watched Hiro walk away. Then Shiraishi and Kenya looked at each other. Kenya frowned and crossed his arms.

Shiraishi gave Kenya an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, Kenya. I was an idiot—"

"Yes, you were an idiot." Kenya said curtly.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings—"

"Yes, you did hurt my feelings."

"I didn't realize that he was a jerk—"

"No, he _is _a jerk!"

Looking at Kenya's face, Shiraishi couldn't help but laugh. He held out a hand.

Kenya smiled and took it, then they slammed their shoulders on each other. "Look man, I'm sorry too."

Shiraishi smiled. "Let's just forget about it, okay?"

Kenya nodded. "Yeah. Good thing foot face won the trip."

"Yeah," Shiraishi said. "I owe you takoyaki."

"And candy," Kenya added.

Shiraishi and Kenya began to walk, then Shiraishi stopped for a second.

"By the way what's a wackjob?"

Kenya shrugged. "I don't know, I just made that up."

Shiraishi laughed as he and Kenya continued to walk to the club room for morning practice.

* * *

"I see. So that's what happened," Kenjiro and the others nodded slowly.

Kenya, Kenjiro, and Chitose were at a table during morning break along with Yukari, Koharu and Yuuji.

"Woah. We're sorry Kenya," Kenjiro said.

"Yeah," Yukari nodded. Then tilted her head in thought. "It's just you become a very weird person when you get temper."

Kenya taised an eyebrow. "How weird?"

"Like a couple of months ago when you got mad at the guy behind the counter at that pizza resto because he didn't give you hot sauce and you didn't give him time to explain and it took us an hour to calm you down and make you realize that the hot sauce was at the self-service counter."

Kenya frowned. "I _was_ in a bad mood that day. I dumped the girl I was dating because she was cheating on me."

"That's another one. You _growled_ at the guy you got cheated on."

Kenya rolled his eyes. "Psh. Excuses."

Yukari pouted. "We said we're sorry, didn't we?"

"Yeah, how come you accepted Shiraishi's apology quickly when it's taking us long just to get you to forgive us?"

Kenya smirked. "Because he's my _best friend_."

"Oh _come on_." Everyone rolled their eyes at Kenya.

Kenya's scowled at them. "Well excuse _you_!" He snorted. "I'm just glad that foot face won the school cruise thing. He's gonna be out of our lives for good."

"I better get going," Yukari stood up, smiling at Kenya. "See you around, Oshita_weird_!"

"It's Oshi-_TARI_!" Kenya yelled after her.

"I'm gotta get back to class. I need to copy some notes," Kenjiro said, also standing.

"You _always_ need to copy some notes," Kenya said and stood up. "I'm gonna go with him. See you later," he waved at Chitose and the _baka_ couple.

As the three disappeared from the table, Chitose glanced at Yuuji and Koharu.

"Hiro won the raffle?" Chitose asked, puzzled.

Koharu stuck out his tounge. "Maybe~"

"But I thought the one who won it was…"

Yuuji looked at Koharu. "Should we tell Chitose-_kun_? _He_ told us not to tell anyone after all, or else he'd kill us."

"You mean…?"

"Well, Chitose," Koharu grinned, "looks like I have another secret to tell."

* * *

Shiraishi and Yuno sat together on the stairs on the second floor.

"So that's an anion," Yuno pointed to the book Shiraishi was holding.

"It's pronounced _an-ion_," Shiraishi corrected.

Yuno snorted. "Who cares? It's the same thing."

Shiraishi glanced at Yuno. "Do you really want me to tutor you or not?"

His cousin raised an eyebrow at him. "Why else would I be sitting next to you?"

Shiraishi shook his head.

"Hey guys," Chitose greeted as he came up from downstairs.

"Oi," Shiraishi smiled.

"You studying?"

Yuno snorted again. "What do you think?"

Shiraishi elbowed Yuno and gave her a warning look.

"It's okay," Chitose said. "Well anyway, have you found out what your cousin did this morning?"

Shiraishi looked at Yuno in horror. "Did you cause trouble again?"

"No," Yuno protested. She tried to remember the things she did that morning. Then her eyes widened at Chitose. "Oh no."

"No, no, don't worry, your cousin didn't cause any trouble. He's actually a nice guy," Chitose laughed. "The thing he did is—"

"—Nothing," Yuno interrupted.

Shiraishi raised an eyebrow. He looked at Chitose again. "What is it?"

Chitose tried to explain again. "Well he—"

"—Did nothing," Yuno interrupted again.

Shiraishi frowned at Yuno, then looked back at Chitose.

"He won that school cruise thing," Chitose said. "But this morning he went to the student council room and asked the president to give the prize to Hiro instead."

"Oh…" Shiraishi said slowly.

Yuno just stared blankly at Chitose with her jaw dropped.

"I guess he did it for you and Kenya," Chitose smiled.

Shiraishi looked over at Yuno. Yuno just continued staring at Chitose.

He looked aside and waved at the two as continued to go upstairs. "I'm off. See you at practice."

Shiraishi waved to Chitose, then looked back at Yuno.

Yuno rubbed a hand under her nose, and scowled. "…I wanted to go on that school cruise."

Shiraishi smirked. "Since you arrived here two weeks ago, you've been calling Kenya a speedo wacko, a dork, a weirdo… but you actually care about him,"

"I did it for my dad." Yuno gave her cousin another scowl. "He said I should stay here until he comes back to get me."

Shiraishi shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Yuno twitched her mouth and looked back down at Shiraishi's book. "So. Anion."

"It's _an-ion_." Shiraishi corrected.

Yuno snorted. "Psh. Same thing."

Shiraishi shook his head again.

"By the way," Yuno glanced at his cousin.

"What?"

"Can I kill Koharu?"

Shiraishi glared at Yuno. "No."

As he and Yuno went back to the book, Shiraishi suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, I just remembered," Shiraishi said in realization, "Hiro has sea sickness. But he's probably gotten over it."

Yuno shrugged. "Don't care."

* * *

Meanwhile, on an international school cruise…

Hiro grabbed on the ship's railings, clutching his stomach. He looked at the open ocean.

"Someone get me off this stupid cruise!" He yelled sickly.

Then suddenly, he felt another rumble in his stomach, then vomited in the sea.

* * *

Back at Shitenhoji middle school, Shiraishi and Chitose were in the tennis club room, getting changed for afternoon practice.

"I told Osamu that Kenya and I are alright," Shiraishi said as he put his shirt on. "He was wondering why Kenya was upset yesterday, so I had to tell him what happened."

"I see," Chitose said, pricking his racket strings with his fingers.

Shiraishi adjusted the bandages on his left arm. "You know what? I'm still surprised about what Yuno did earlier."

"I guess he's a pretty nice guy even if he doesn't look like it," Chitose said. "Well, you're probably as surprised as I was when you said that you were the captain of the team. I saw you during the Nationals, but I never knew you were your team's captain."

Shiraishi laughed. "I may be the captain, but I'm still the same old me. I'm not so strict with my teammates. As long as they practice hard and keep winning, I'm good!"

"Ah," Chitose nodded. "So that's why they're playing dodge ball outside."

Shiraishi quickly looked at Chitose. "They're playing what now?"

Chitose raised an eyebrow before pointing to the window.

Shiraishi's jaw dropped as he looked outside.

"…I'm guessing you don't allow that," Chitose said.

"I don't think so… no." Shiraishi shook his head. He turned around and began to walk. "Excuse me."

Chitose chuckled and shrugged.

Shiraishi stopped near a bench. "And by the way, there's something I didn't tell you about Yuno."

"Yuno?" Chitose asked.

"Yeah. Well you see… Yuno's a _girl_."

Chitose nodded. "I see." Then he realized what Shiraishi just said. "You said what now?"

Shiraishi nodded and smiled. "I understand if you didn't notice, she _does_ look a little like a guy... especially since she wears our uniform. She said she looked weird in the girls' uniform so she wears the guys' instead."

"Okay…"

"Actually, since Yuno has only been here for a while, majority of the school doesn't know she's really a girl. Only Kenya, a few other people and some teachers."

"Looks like I was part of that majority."

Shiraishi laughed.

Chitose looked out the window again and pointed outside. "I think you need to… you know, before things get out of hand…"

Shiraishi remembered the situation outside. "Oh, right…" he nearly tripped over the bench near him as he rushed outside.

Chitose laughed and shook his head before going back to his racket.

**The end.**

* * *

Okay~! So there's the end of the story. Thank you for reading!

A total of 37 pages on MS Word. Not bad, I guess. xD I wish I could do better but this is how far my amateur writing skills could go. The story wasn't even my idea. xDD; I'm still thinking if I should add an epilogue or _omake_ of some sort. But this is it for now. I need to go back to _Thing Aren't So Bad When You're Around_ and my deviantART contest entries and prizes. OTL

P.S. I put up a random _buchous_ poll on my profile. Go and vote for your top three captains in the choices! xD *retarded*


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